Operation Bagration is a GO!

As was mentioned a few times already, May 18th marked the beginning of the Legio Malaysia's Flames of War Firestorm: Bagration campaign. The start to this campaign couldn't be better.

Katyusha Barrage

For my first game, my Panzerkompanie was pitted up against the Red Army; hordes of infantry and tanks. This by far, was my toughest wargame across all formats I've ever played. Greatly outnumbered and continuously pressured by multiple barrages and insanely superior numbers, I rode my luck all the way as I somehow managed to turn the tide. The Most Valuable Platoon (MVP) for this game was my Gepanzerte Aufklarungs platoon as it mowed down two squads of 20 infantry bases all on their own. Mounted Assault MG Teams in 3rd Edition rocks!

Start

End

Again, this is the craziest and the most epic game ever. I am really hoping that I won't have to go through this experience again, the stress level was a bit too much (was profusely sweating and the chest was pounding inside throughout the game). Credits to Shukur for this epic battle.

***

Update: Realised that I have yet to post any picture of another Firestorm platoon I've painted for the campaign. Here is the 10.5cm Artillery Battery Firestorm Platoon, and I'm sure Khairul is going to love the platoon markings I've made for them. For certain reasons, I'm not going to post that particular image up, you'll have to see it yourself.

10.5 cm Artillery Battery Firestorm Platoon

Island of Fire : Path of the Star

 “For an Asrai to walk into fire, nothing but doom awaits. Island of Fire, a name fitting for the mysterious burning island, a place thought to be even more mythical than the spirits of Athel Loren. It was long told that on every undisclosed period of time, the island will magically summon various warbands from all over the world against their will. Brace yourselves o'kinsmen, for the dreaded time is foreseen to arrive soon. There’s only one manner for you to return home, the most basic general rule of all; Survival of the Fittest.” - Spellsinger Aerith Brightwood

***

The young and rash Gilrhath Whipvine was always the unlucky one. The first to hunt, yet the last for feast; the first for inception, yet the last for reception. This time, his patrol was sucked into a magical vortex as he was patrolling the borders of Athel Loren. As he arrived, Aerith’s recent teachings came to mind; this would probably the Island of Fire. It appeared that the vortex has brought some of the ever-present Forest Spirits and the lost Minaith elves too. The denizens of Athel Loren are well-known for their fearless and no mercy attitude, but the ghastly sight of surrounding tree-less inferno brought fear to their eyes. One by one, several other vortices materialized on the island. The closest warbands to Gilrhath’s patrol was the Lizardmen of Lustria and the non-living Lahmians. As the Asrai silently trudging to avoid the nasty savage warbands, a psychic explosion boomed, deafened their senses, and subsequently, the consciousness faded away.

Gilrhath slowly picked himself up, with a throbbing pain at the back of his skull. This is the first time he experienced this sensation, and to his surprise, even the forest spirits felt them too. Helping his kinsmen to their feet, whilst trying to sober himself, four words nagged annoyingly in his mind: Fight or Die, Now! The nearby Lustrians and Lahmians seemed to be affected too. Seizing the chance, the young elf led his kinsmen away to safety; with the hope of the warbands annihilating themselves, and for them to strike against the final survivor when they least expected.

Their getaway brought them into contact with a familiar face, the famous Paladin Piotr and the horse-riders. His gracious deeds in supporting Aerith during the Battle of Fortenhaf were sung in harmony throughout the forest back home. To have an ally in such a dread place of this was very valuable. But the realisation came late. Swallowed either by madness or desperation to survive, the Brettonians charged without warning. Gilrhath and his Glade Guards were caught unprepared by the unexpected turn of event. Doom was imminent, but the ever-ready forest spirits blocked the charge which allowed the Minaith elves to unleash their lethal shots and allowed the elves a swift escape from oblivion.

Relief and confusion were mixed altogether. Realising that the danger was real, the only way for them to survive was to come out on top. Gathering all knowledge and experience that each of them had, a list of plans were mapped out. The first plan was assassination, and the first victim was the keigh-mons of Sigmar. The Minaith elves went way beyond enemy lines, while the rest of the Kindred shall move forward utilising the terrains and cover. Suffice to say, the plan worked to an almost perfection. The Empire engineer wasn’t successfully assassinated, but was demoralized just enough to send their warband into disarray.

The second plan was seizing grounds, and the victim was one of their most hated adversaries, the Druuchi. The Minaith elves and Gilrhath himself went into enemy territory separately and caused chaos. Whatever that survived the hail of doom arrows, were met with another hail of arrow from the Glade Guards. Since the enemies were Druuchi, the Asrai were merciless, and were shot down into pieces.

The third plan was capture and control, and another nemesis was the victim, the Bearded Stunties. The Kindred was a bit caught off guard as the Dwarves were more agile than usual. Agility does not necessarily means speed and the Kindred led the Dwarves around aimlessly. Again, the Dwarves surprised them when one of their regiments managed to pursue the bowmen. Despite it being a much mobilized skirmish, the elves won the match as their nimbleness proved too much for their foes.

Slowly but surely, the Kindred was approaching salvation. The next foe was seemed pre-destined to be the Asur. Feeling the frustration of abandonment swelling from within, Gilrhath unleashed a malicious barrage of arrows, annihilating an entire Asur bowmen regiment in one shot. They responded with two magical fireball volleys of their own, which massacred the forest spirits. Spiteful of the treachery of old, the remaining Asur was then sandwiched by cascading arrows from front and back. The warriors of Chrace were tough warriors, but even that wasn’t enough. After three salvos from the fore and rear, they were shred to pieces before they even manage to engage in close combat.

As soon as the last Asur fell to the ground, they were sucked again into the vortex. Floating in the maelstrom of ever-changing continuum, the only thing that came to Gilrhath’s mind was Athel Loren, wishing to see his green, luscious beautiful home one more time before his life was taken away. Then, everything was pitch black.

***

A stinging sensation over his left shoulder woke Gilrhath up. In a dreamy state, he discovered a burning disc marking inscribed to his skin. Afterwards, he noticed that he was in the infirmary, together with the surviving brethren from the Island of Fire. Apparently, all of them had the same marking on their left shoulders. Suddenly, he felt some eyes were watching. It was Aerith’s and Elendil’s, his mentors.

“Survive he did. Luck has finally befallen the unlucky one,” said Aerith, smiling.

Elendil then added, “He is an Arhain now. Our guidance is no more needed.”

Gilrhath, still holding on at the pain on his left shoulder, could only look quizzically at his mentors, “But...”

Aerith responded, “Young one no more, you are not.  Your Kindred, this is now, vindicated by the mark of the Chosen Ones. In Mordheim, destiny awaits.”

Both Aerith and Elendil then bowed at him in respect and simply left, leaving him behind in puzzlement.

KINDRED: Best Tournament so far.

FOR THE EMPEROR!

The sudden assault and its unforeseen aftermath brought the Glenmarie Sector into focus. Arenxis Minoris was lost, and the Imperium were determined not to lose any of the surrounding systems. However, it seemed that the Imperium aren’t the only ones interested. Several Hive Fleets and Waaagh! started appearing, not to mention the unexpected awakening of the Old Ones from one of their tomb worlds.

The potential threats were not to be dismissed. Forces of Chaos unified under the late Lord Minthras of the Unclean were very determined not to lose Arenxis Minoris. The Alpha Legion faction volunteered to scout the movement of their enemies, and the Legionnaires came upon some very interesting information. It seemed that splinters of their former enemy, the Craftworld Saim-Hann, were still within the vicinity and in possession of a mortally wounded Grandmaster of the Ordo Inquisitor, is currently making orbit around an unknown planet. That would also probably explain the appearance of some Ordo Hereticus and the Astartes fleets in the sector.

However, they also discovered that almost of all of the other forces were actually converging on the Craftworld and the planet they’re orbiting. Interested of the current progress, the Alpha Legion activated their Operatives from the nearest planet to rendezvous with them at that planet. Whatever will happen there, the Alpha Legion were very eager to play a part in it.

***

Veteran Trooper Ritzahl was in the middle of a combat drill, when suddenly a familiar voice rang in his head. He looked up and it seems everyone around him were hearing the same voice too. The voice was Niklas Tauron’s, the great psyker who revealed them regarding the truth of the Imperium. He was the one who guide them to the only way to cleanse the universe form the foul taints of Chaos, the one they respected too much that they’d put their life on the line for him. They’ve also gone so far that they’ve marked the skin of their shoulders with the hydra symbol.

The regiment nicknamed the Emperor’s Guard is very formidable and self-sufficient. Recently, they single-handledly steered away a flock of Daemons coming their way to engage with the sons of Russ instead. They also managed to pacify a religious uproar by the Ordo Hereticus within their home base, unbeknownst of their allegiance to the Twentieth Legion. After the message by Tauron ended, in unison they lifted up their lasguns into the air and roared, “For the Emperor!”

*** 

Rath Ludhyani was unsatisfied that Niklas sent only one small squad and some Operatives to engage the Eldarkin. His heigtened senses felt the presence of the harbingers of the Blood God also approaching the xenos. Knowing that he was the chosen one to complete the task of preserving longevity of the universe that he carried within his soul, he summoned two the machine cultists to him. When they arrived, he created a warp portal and disappeared into it, along with the machine cultists.

***

The guardsmen landed safely on a sandy part of the planet, making a rendezvous with the assigned Hydra Legionnaires. To their surprise, Rath the chosen one was among the Legionnaires but it seemed that even the Legionnaires were surprised to see him there too. So, this shall be their brother-in-arms in this upcoming mission, these people shall be their Kindred.

*******

*******

The mission was perilous from the beginning for as soon as they began to march, the air around them suddenly became putrid like the smell of foul cheese. All of a sudden, Khornate Bloodcrushers, Plaguebearers of Nurgle, and the Sons of Russ appeared all around them. To ambush the Sons of Alpharius is not an easy task, and to make matters worse, their ambushers seemed to work together. The sheer power of Leman Russ Executioner, with added 'sponsons' evened things out, allowing them to escape from the daemonic onslaught. From that moment on, they realized that the task was not going to be easy.

The escape path they chose led them to a ruined city. However, they were again caught off guard as the ruins were heavily infested by the unholy 'green' alliance of Orks and the Eldarkin. Relentless guided scatter laser bombardments and two huge massive pile of greenskins forced them to evacuate from the ruins. Unable to thwart the oncoming assault, the Hydra faithfuls decided for a tactical withdraw. Their decision proved to be a smart decision, as they later managed to scout all of the forces currently on the planet, and they all seemed to come in pairs. Our favourite bugs that almost consumed Macragge, Orks of Khorne and the World Eaters, Black Legion led by Abaddon himself, Ordo Hereticus and their cultists, the accursed Ultramarines and Black Templars, Inquisition and some marines, Adeptus Mechanicus with Imperial Guardsmen ally, were all there. Of course, they also managed to locate the forces they were looking for; Craftworld Saim-Hann and the Daemonhunters.

They've come to the information that the mortally wounded Grandmaster was unable to be healed at all, and the Saim-Hann Eldars were trying to channel his spirit into a spirit stone. It was something that was never done before, and it was no wonder the all the psykers in the universe detected this unholy intent. However, it was never meant to be. The Grandmaster they have was only a husk with some traces of life in it, the soul it contained has been snatched away by the tiny daemons of Nurgle that were summoned by the Unclean during the final battle in Arenxis Minoris. However, they also managed to overheard that somewhere in the Temasek Sector, there's an entity called the Paradigm that has the knowledge to retrieve a lost soul. This was definitely good news to the Alpha Legion, a vital information that needs to be known by Omegon, as there was still hope to restore their primarch in perfect condition again.

Satisfied with the information they had, the Hydra faithful were actually prepared to return home. However, a Legionnaire spotted the cursed Omega symbol within the vicinity. Rage and hatred filled their mind and souls, and none of them hesitated to annihilate the much hated thirteenth legion and their ally. Only one Techmarine managed to survive the massacre, to live and perhaps telling the story of how vengeful and ferocious the Sons of Alpharius could be. Together with their activated operatives, the Legionnaires then swiftly returned to Arenxis Minoris with two words in mind; Temasek Sector.

*******

My alliance with Jit a.k.a Rizal ended up with 1W 1D 1L. Not bad at all, since our alliance was forged on the afternoon before D-day, and our list was only decided at 11.30 pm on the night before the tournament. However, we didn't went home empty handed. The fluff above, that was written in italic, was bestowed the Best Librarian award a.k.a Best Fluff. Not bad for something that was written at 3 am in the morning, hahaha. Thanks to Khairul & Arzmi for one of the best tournament, if not the best, I ever had. And congratulations to all the winners. Next up, 1000pts doubles at SPOREcon 2010!

2009: Year in Review

18th of January 2009 marks the beginning of Stealthy Blades. It may not be much of a blog, but to me it signifies my intent and seriousness of my hobby. Although initially intended as a gallery for my Raven Guard army, it soon evolved as my own personal hobby blog as the word 'Stealth' can be applied to all three armies I own at the moment; Raven Guard, Alpha Legion, and Wood Elves.

Somewhere around March or April, I joined a fantastic hobby club called Legio Malaysia. Damn, it was one hell of wacky & fun people to be with. In this club too, I get to be reacquainted with some familiar faces of the past (Faizal, Arzmi, Jit/Rizal and 'small' Shazli to be exact). We spent almost every Friday nights together, talking and doing hobby, rolling dices, painting stuffs, making tables, and organizing events to make the Malaysian gaming community better. We even went to Singapore together, just to play some more games. I am so happy that I found a place that I felt at home with, thanks guys!

Come July, I was already halfway through my second 40K army: the Alpha Legion. Up to this moment, that army is still in the 'Painting in Progress' mode, but trust me when I say it already wrecked havoc in my gaming club. Especially during the great Arenxis Minoris campaign that was organized by Azlan. I also noticed something while working on this Chaos army; other than the freedom of conversion that it provided, my painting skills actually improved. This realization came to me when I decided to play a game with my Raven Guard again. I definitely have to thank Jeff and Khairul for this, because now I feel more confident to actually finish painting my abandoned Wood Elves.

And now, I'm already looking and searching for my own airbrush set. Being in a proper hobby club really encouraged me to be better. I'm really confident that my conversion skill has gone way beyond my own expectations, just need to brush up on the painting skills. The best part is, I'm doing it by my own free will because I want to be just as good as the other hobbyists around me. Some fellow hobbyist even went a bit extreme by developing their own secret army projects, hahaha. I'm foreseeing that 2010 will be the year of secrets unveiling. I wish I was this eager with other aspects of my life.

My real life, almost all aspects of it, can be summed up in one word: Sucks! Hoping it would turned for the best by next year though.
And some may notice that I don't drive, at all. One small reason was because my license has expired way back during my studying period overseas, while another big reason was...hmm, don't really wanna talk about this much. Let's just say even when you're working in the health-care field, actually being diagnosed of something doesn't really sound nice to your ears. I'm thinking of going against the doctor's orders in 2010; can't just rely on others' kindness, sometimes we just have to take the risk.

I am very tempted to start a new army in 2010. BUT, I'm not going to buy anything until I completed painting all the models that I'm going to frequently use in my current armies. This applies to all my Dryads, Glade Guards, Treemen, Wardancers, Alter Kindreds, Raven Guard & Alpha Legion Tanks & Walkers, Daemon Princes, Obliterators, Raven Guard marines & scouts, and Alpha Legionnaires. Looking at all those stuff, maybe I won't be able to start a new army at all but who knows? It's a son of Corax, an Alpha Legionnaire, and an Asrai who's doing the talking here; nothing is what it may seemed to be ;)

Fare thee well 2009. Welcome 2010.

Marksmanship Award, and 'Kindred'

Yesterday, was the Marksmanship tournament for the Legio League 3. As usual, Swiss-type tournament, 3 rounds of dice chucking. Only 7 participants took part; 1 Eldar, 1 Daemonhunters, 2 SM (Ultramarine & former Ultramarine), 1 Tyranids, and 2 Alpha Legion. See, by default, the Alpha legion has already won. Hahaha :D

This was my army list:
(the theme was duality/twin/mirror-image..as you can see, almost everything except the Defiler is in pairs..4 terminators is paired with 4 Obliterators)

• Sorcerer with plasma pistol & Gift of Chaos
• Sorcerer with Warptime
• 4 Terminator with Combi-melta
• 7 Chosen with 4 Meltagun & 1 Power Fist, in Rhino
• 7 Chosen with 3 Flamers & 2 Power Fist, in Rhino
• 7 Plague Marines with 2 Meltagun, in Rhino
• 7 Plague Marines with 2 Meltagun, in Rhino
• 2 Obliterator
• 2 Obliterator
• 1 Defiler with 3 DCCW, Reaper Autocannon & Battlecannon
  

My first match was against Zaki's Tyranids. The last time I fought him was probably last year, at Comics Mart. At that time, his army wasn't even painted yet. Now, it has 'Selangor Glory' painted all over them. Just by looking at them during deployment is awesome. The game was seize ground and we had FIVE objectives. I was really outnumbered in this match, and the synapse thing really made it tough (lost one of my sorcerers due to misunderstanding in the synapse ability, force weapon doesn't work as normal against 'Fex). Due to the sheer number of models on the table, the match took quite some time and the time was called during our turn 4. I only managed to wipe out two massive squads of Gaunts, and contesting 2 other objectives that was held by another two massive squad of Gaunts and 2 units of Genestealers. The match ended up in a draw. We definitely must have a rematch.

Second match was against Arzmi's Daemonhunters and it's Annihilation. Getting Kill Points from him ain't easy, especially considering the fact that my Termicide squad had a deep strike mishap and my battlecannon scattered too far destroying my own rhino. I got a good start though, as I managed to wreck his Terminator-carrying Land Raider, his uber killy unit. The match went see-saw, and in the end, I won the match by 9-8. Damn, it's really close. Only after the match did Arzmi pointed out to me that I almost TA'ed him as the Grandmaster and the 3 terminators on the board, are actually the only models he has left on the table. Our game was fast, so fast that we already in our turn 4 while Zaki's Tyranids vs Shazli's Ultramarines are still in their deployment phase.

After the match, I get the opportunity to chat and discuss regarding the concepts and principals or army building with Quek, the first SPOREcon champ. It's really nice to know how he's seeing the game in another perspective, while at the same time maintaining fluff and not going overboard on powergaming. That chat gave me a new insight; as now I'm already scratching out Terminators & Land Raiders from my Raven Guard list, adding a new dimension to my Alpha Legion list, and a secret list for the Kindred doubles tournament (so that I can compliment Faizal's army list). More on Kindred later.

If I win this last game, I'll be the Marksman Champ. Alvin, my fellow Legionnaire, was really hyped about it since he already won the league Fanatic award, and it would definitely be nice for Alpha Legion to conquer the whole thing. The last match was against Khairul's Saim-Hann. It was Capture & Control, in a very dense terrain set-up. My Raven Guard would love this table, but my Alpha Legion hates it. However, Khairul even hate it more as it limited his turbo-boosting and skimmer ability. This game was very tough, yet it was the best one I had for the day. It was evenly balanced, and in the end, it was a draw with perfectly even scores. However, there was a conditional catch in this round; if it's a draw then we had to count Kill Points. Therefore, I lose and Khairul became the champ. Congratulations bro!

Anyway, this paint-in-progress unit was my MVP for the day:


Kinda feel sad (and a bit bitter) since I only managed to 'almost win' the tournament. It's normal, post-tournament blues, as people say. But I'm going to make it up in Kindred, as Faizal and I are now aiming for the Best General, People's Choice, and Team Hobby. Anyway, what's Kindred? Feast your eyes on this:

I'm teaming up with Faizal, and now we're officialy announcing the army we're going to use to the whole world: Chaos Undivided a.k.a Black Legion. Kindred shall be our Black Crusade and no, we will not bleed together, because we're going to be victorious and all of our opponent shall bleed to death!

Legio Hobby Night 04/12/09 - The Arenxis Minoris Campaign Finale!

Suffice to say, it was a very successful campaign.
The Forces of Disorder won, but Forces of Order were given another chance to save their dignity in an Apocalypse campaign game. Might I say, another Imperium propaganda?

----------

Dunnkyrc was the only region left in Arenxis Minoris, and this is the place where the Forces of Order were making their last stand while waiting for rescue. The Cadian 7th, the Ravenwing, and the Inquisition were very busy setting up defences, while keeping out the former Ultramarines 5th company and the Saim-Hann Craftworld out of the picture, as they were tied with controversies involving the Alpha Legion during the war. The treacherous Craftworld Aulthavon however, were still nowhere to be seen.

A very disturbing satellite image however, caused the Imperium to re-consider the allegiance of the former Ultramarines and the only xenos ally they have at the moment. This was the image they saw, a bit blurry, but by looking at it we probably know why.

The Alpha Legion were marching straight to Dunnkyrc, along with its armoured regiment. Something was definitely wrong, as this was never their modus operandi. Later reports did mention that Lord Eulikules of the Unclean were among them, but as all of the few lucky survivors witnessed, Lucius was leading the Conclave's charge. Apparently, an unlucky Legionnaire has probably met the Eternal One in the past and killed him. Big mistake then, major advantage now.

Soon they arrived, and out of nowhere, the bulk force of the Unclean joined them. Later, flock of Daemon Princes of Khorne and Nurgle (??) caused a rift in the temporal space and appeared in the midst of their forces. There were two out of the six armies of the Force of Disorder arriving into battle. The two xenos; the Eldar's Kabal of the Disembowlers, and the Ork's Da Mad Mobz, made it publicly known that they were not interested on the humans affairs anymore as they already have what they came for. The World Eaters and the Red Corsairs however, weren't there. Confusion ran among the Imperium ranks, as they were expecting a surprise attack from the Alpha Legion, not from any of the dedicated assault armies. That alone proved the cunning leadership of Lord Minthras.

A wall of Land Raiders were deployed to halt the oncoming assault, while the artillery tanks placed behind them. But it was to no avail, as the Forces of Disorders unleashed their volley of bombardments and later called down a barrage from the orbit, providing them with a thick wall of smoke to cover their advance.

The thin line of assault, revealing the weakness and frailty of the Imperium for inability to defend against such a small number of the assaulting force.

The blood-frenzy World Eaters assaulted from behind, surrounding the Forces of Order. It appeared that Lord Minthras orchestrated this assault using only half of his force's total strength, due to the absence of the Red Corsairs. The former Ultramarines' made a great sacrifice to prove their allegiance, none of their marines in Tactical Dreadnought Armours survived as they were all wiped out in a single turn. Some were even converted to a Hydra spawn, as shown in the above satellite image. The sacrifice seemed to be worth it, as they managed to halt the Alpha Legion's heavy gunline advance. Later on, it will prove to be useless.

A satellite image of Lord Minthras in his final act of valour and bravery, making his stand against the coward marines of the Ravenwing. Their leader refused the challenge made, and sent his goons instead. In the background, we could see the Ravenwing leader skimmering side-by-side with a xenos. as he gleefully watched Lord Minthras trampled over by the bikes. Ain't he a pure hypocrite?

Nevertheless, the resistance was futile and the losses were bad. Brother Captain Stern of the Inquisition was ripped into pieces by lesser daemons, an Ordo Malleus Grandmaster was eaten alive by a Khorne Daemon Prince, and the Imperium supreme commander was assassinated by a World Eaters' Tactical Dreadnought armour squad. The promised rescue party never landed, as the condition on the ground looked very grim and it would be suicidal to land. Only a few who were willful enough managed to escape the planet by their own from the ensuing slaughter. The Inquisition army was obliterated, while the status of the former Ultramarines were unknown. There were rumours saying that Lord Syammael escaped along with his newfound xenos ally, together with their faithful xenos-loving (junior) Lord Commissar Faizal.

The future now looked brighter for Arenxis Minoris, as it has been liberated from the foul taint and corrupting influence of Imperium. For The Emperor!

----------

Yes, Chaos wins.

For more pics, checkout Rizal's blog.

Inquisition Wars, The Extended Summary

Okay, here we go. It's the extended summary, as was promised last week. The scenario: there were two Inquisitors, purist vs radical, fighting for superiority over a region in the Melayu Sector of the galaxy. As means to justify their own personal vendetta, they subtly directed multiple armies (allies and enemies) like chess pawns in the background ala the Alpha Legion, to reign supreme over the other. Thus, the modified swiss system that was applied to the tournament. I was assigned to the Black Team, so too the majority of the locals. Reason: since we've played against each other a lot, it would be nicer if can play with somebody else new for a change. What a good decision that is! However, the local powerhouses (except the great ork warboss) was on the Red Team.

This is James' SM army that I played with in the first match. Nice chap to talk hobby with. The mission was a modified capture-and-control, and he was the defender. Luckily for me though, he decided to outflank his Land Raiders (via Korsarro Khan) rather than putting it in reserve as normal. That was the single determining glaring factor for my win in this match.

This is Peter's CSM army that most locals has probably memorized. The mission was modified Seize Ground. I lost pretty bad in this match, simply because my transports where blown to pieces before my army even reached his Obliterator gunline. Footslogging without transports, whether it's Plague Marines or not, facing the Obliterator gunline felt the same as marching into 3 Leman Russ Executioners.

Final match was versus Xian's infantry IG, mission: modified Annihilation. My dice rolls were pretty 'awesome' in this match, and my rhinos were like paper, shred to pieces by turn 1. Only 1 orbital bombardment struck, and it took out only one cadian infantry. Plus, he rolled insane morale tests on all his leadership rolls. Like Kadir said, it's just one of those days really, can't say anything. The match ended in 5 turns, exactly 1 turn before my total-footslogging marines could reach his entire gunline and wreck havoc.

So, in the end, 1 win & 2 losses. But even though I lost, I'm satisfied with my army list. The last game really showed me the resilence of my army. I lost only 2 marines since that disastrous turn 1, if you don't count the Suicide Chosens and my Termicide squad. Anyway, it was a really fun tournament. Results, as I posted in the quickie summary. A correction though, Soo Jin won the Best Overall, not the Best General. Our gaming club has a policy by not giving out Best General awards as a way to encourage the hobby aspect of the game. It worked well, since the total powergamers in some way had to paint their models nicely too in order for them to actually win something. By the way, the Red Team won, big time.

Here are some selected pics of the tournament:
(For more pictures, checkout Lord Spunkybass' site)

"Players arriving."

"Happy faces, before getting our asses kicked."

"The ork warboss, with his new biker-gretchin-in-training."

"The Word of Law for the day, along with his trusty grot."
(This is just the camera angle. In real life, judging by his size, Saleh's a Nob!)

"Lord Ammar of the World Eaters leading the charge."

"The Cadian 7th lands."

"Calgar and his true scale terminators disembark."

"Not to forget, the assault jetbikes that made the Saim-Hann envious."

"Eldrad doing mercenary duty for the Saim-Hann."

"The Blood Angels' Space Hulk Boarding Regiment teleports in."

"Kharn's force arrives, following up on the World Eaters' initial charge by Lord Ammar."

"Imperial Guards taking defensive position."

"Nicely painted (but unbased) Force of the Blighted Ones emerged from the warp."

"The Astartes marches into battle."

"Betrayed by a traitor guard."

"Major Schaeffer and the Brandenburg taking a stand."

"Post-war: winners, participants, spectators, and tournament staff."

Inquisition Wars Quickie Summary

It was a successful tournament, kudos to Jeff and also to Saleh the grot. I didn't win anything yet I felt satisfied, just to show how well the tournament went. However, I feel sad not seeing Azlan participating in the tournament. He was painting his tanks frantically on Thursday night up until the wee hours of the morning, and then giving it all by painting terrains on Friday night. Yet, he didn't play. The reason he gave me was a bit out of place, something felt not right.

Anyway, back to the main topic; Tsui won Best Appearance (again), Ang won Best Sportsmanship, and Su Jin who is better known as a skilled painter won the Best General instead. This is Tsui's army, he's not bringing along his IG this time. Instead, he introduced us his Space Wolves.

My achievements today; winning my first game against James' Space Marines, then subsequently losing to Peter (we all know his army list) and Lim's IG. This is the army that I brought along.

Close-ups of my army will be done later, so does pictures from the tournament (I took lots of it). At this moment, I'm tired & sleepy, and I'm going to be oncall 24 hours tomorrow. So later guys, I'll post a longer summary of the tournament next week. As for this week, I'm thinking a week off miniatures (my gut feeling says it's only going to last 1-2 days, I'll be itching to assemble /paint something). See you guys at the club meeting next hobby night.

Apocalypse 18/07/09: Eldar vs Imperium

18/07/09: The Imperium received information that there's a Xenos infestation in a sector near the Eye of Terror. Led by Brother Captain Stern, three Space Marine chapters (Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Raven Guard) volunteered to aid the Ordo Inquisition to investigate the matter. What they discovered instead, was another Eldar trickery. Distracted by a jamming session, a Disco Beacon, and some erotic dance moves by the Eldarkin, the Xenos seemed to found all the things that they were looking for and left the sector immediately, while at the same time leaving 80% of the Imperium forces intact and partying at one corner of the battlefield.